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They pawed around the West Wing and comforted people after tragedy. Sometimes, like pandas, they made their biggest impact by not being there at all. Here’s an unranked look at four-legged and finned creatures that shaped our year.

The Missing Cicadas

As soon as it became known that the East Coast — and, in particular, New York City — was in for a major cicada invasion, all hell broke loose. Hell in the form of a plague of media attention. (See: trillions of terrifying red-eyed bloodthirsty monsters will emerge from all possible crevices to ruin your life). The invasion, which comes once every 17 years, did happen in some areas, sure, but in the end it was all very underwhelming. NBC Philadelphia dubbed it “The Cicada Invasion That Wasn’t” and New York magazine simply declared that in the Big Apple, the invasion had been canceled.